New materials such as the draft of the Kosuke Kindaichi series "Masquerade" released by the detective novel writer Seishi Yokomizo in his later years and the creative notes of "Evil Spirit Island" were found.
The expert who conducted the survey pointed out that "it is a valuable material that shows Yokomizo's passion and creative ingenuity in his later years."
These materials were found and stored by a family member at a villa in Nagano prefecture owned by Seishi Yokomizo, and were being investigated by the donated Nishogakusha University.
According to Professor Naotaka Yamaguchi, who conducted the survey, about 650 drafts of "Masquerade", one of the series of Kosuke Kindaichi released by Yokomizo in his later years, were newly confirmed.
"Masquerade" is a feature film in which detective Kosuke Kindaichi investigates a series of suspicious deaths that occur in Karuizawa. It was announced.
The draft found this time seems to have been written during the suspension, and the trace of the correction of the text published in the magazine and the scene where the Metropolitan Police Department's Detective Todoroki who investigates the case with Kindaichi appears are inserted in the part different from the completed version. There are many differences, such as being done, and there is a trial and error of creation.
In addition, the notebook written as "Memo of Evil Spirit Island" contains a list of characters in the novel "Evil Spirit Island", chapter titles and main contents, and information about the shrines that appear in the work, according to Professor Yamaguchi. It is extremely rare to find Yokomizo's creative notebook, which says that he was working on the concept of the work only in his head.
Professor Yamaguchi points out that "it is a valuable discovery that clearly shows the passion for creating Yokomizo in his later years, the traces of trial and error, and his polite work."